Thursday, August 30, 2018

Anthrax will release an expanded and remastered 30th anniversary edition of their 1988 album, “State Of Euphoria”, on October 5.

The reissue of the New York thrash band’s fourth record – which reached No. 30 on the US Billboard 200 on its way t gold status in the country – will be presented in a 2CD package, with the first disc featuring the remastered album alongside all of the B-sides originally issued plus a 1989 live recording of the set’s second single, “Antisocial”, recorded live in London at the Hammersmith Odeon; billed as “Charlie’s Archives", disc two takes listeners inside the band’s writing and rehearsal sessions to share insight into the writing, development and recording process of the album’s songs.

“We recorded everything back then,” explains drummer and lyricist Charlie Benante. “We would sit in the rehearsal room with a little two-track machine record everything we did in rehearsal while we were putting the songs together.”

In addition to the original album’s artwork that includes the Mort Drucker-drawn (Mad Magazine) back cover, the anniversary package includes never before seen personal snapshots of the band members, tour admats/posters, plus two Anthrax magazine covers, all culled from that 1988-1989 period. For the booklet, the band enlisted British journalist Alexander Milas, former editor-in-chief of Metal Hammer, to write the sleeve notes, Shawn Franklin handled editing tracks and Paul Logus mastered the set.

Benante also took to social media, inviting fans to tell him what "State Of Euphoria" had meant to them. He was overwhelmed with responses, and many of them are included in the booklet.

“I think fans will be really excited when they see their own quotes in the package,” says Benante.

The 30th anniversary reissue will also be available as a 2-LP set on standard black vinyl and limited edition red and yellow colored vinyl.

“State Of Euphoria is the album that we always felt we never got to finish properly,” Benante adds. “We wished we had had a little more time to spend on it. But, having revisited it while putting together this package, I really got to enjoy it again, it took me back to that time when everything was a whirlwind.”